Make My Day
by xenophile
Summary: AU::Sango and Miroku meet at a university, not on the best of terms. However, by helping each other, both may be able to let go of their pasts and face the future....perhaps together. SxM + IxKag
1. Chapter One

Many thanks to Aylinn-chan for looking this over and correcting the numerous drafts I sent her way ^-^;; 

Disclaimer: There's this concept of 'not owning' something…you may have heard of it..

**Make My Day**

Most people try to forget a past full of pain and abuse, especially those who are resolute and strong-minded. However, an exception must be made for a certain young woman who happened to have such past. Instead of burying it away she chose to remember, and perhaps relive, each moment of it as a sort of warning. A warning telling her not to stray from her goals, not to become distracted by other things-including love. The eldest in her broken and long ago dissipated family, she was named Sango.

Sango was independent in nearly all aspects, living on her own and studying at one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Not that being independent and wary of distractions made her socially inept. On the contrary she had many friends, the best of whom was named Kagome. The two of them were the same age, but Sango had skipped one year of high school, so she was already in her third year of college, while Kagome was in her second.

It was in the beginning of her third year that Sango's values and morals were soon to be shaken and changed considerably. Perhaps a certain goddess of love had become angered by Sango's stubborn disinterest in the opposite sex as anything more than a good friend, or maybe fate chose for it to happen. Whatever the reason, this year would prove to be so much more different, and maybe even better, than all of the others she had ever experienced.

Chapter One

Sango picked up her drink and stood to leave. "See you later, Kagome."

"Sir, please, the straw dispenser is not a toy!" Kagome tried to reason with a rather....odd customer, sparing a moment to call back at her friend,- "Bye, Sango! And call me as soon as you find out!!"- and then went back to her job at the cafe.

Sango walked down the street for a few minutes, finishing her drink. "Call me as soon as you find out!!" Kagome's words rang in her head. Sango grimaced, and quickened her pace home. Maybe the verdict was already set. True, she had been waiting in the courtroom nearly all morning and had left only because she had been badly in need of a break. The cafe Kagome worked at was the easiest escape...but it had been half an hour...she needed to get back to the courtroom as soon as possible. 

Sango threw her drink away and listened to it land with a 'thunk' into the trashcan. She glared at it for a moment, contemplating the idea of giving the trash can a good kick, just to relieve some stress. Realizing how stupid that would be, Sango sighed, and turned to walk to the apartment building she lived in where her car was parked. 

Her cell phone rang. She answered it immediately, and heard the breathlessness in her voice as she answered the call. "Hello?"

Sango's eyes widened at the words spoken to her, the hand pressing the cell phone to her ear threatened to loose its hold. 

The judge had decided a verdict. 

___________________________________

Kagome stared at her phone, scowling. Why hadn't Sango called her yet? What was the verdict? How would Sango take it? She stood up and began to pace, but only somewhat effectively since the room was so small. 

If that thing didn't ring soon she was going to take that receiver and mash it into a-

*ring*

Immediately abandoning her plans of mass phone destruction, Kagome picked up the receiver. "Sango?!"

"I'm so glad you've been expecting me, honey." a voice replied dryly.

"Oh, er, hi mom." Kagome resisted the urge to give a deflated sigh, and sat down resignedly. 

"Is everything okay at the apartment?"

"Yes, don't worry. I've already been out here living on my own for two years. No big deal." Kagome couldn't help but wonder how long this was going to take. Sango might call at any moment...

"I know, but a mother will always be worried about her children, no matter how old they become. Speaking of children, I have a favor to ask."

"Er....what kind of favor?"

"Well, you see dear, I was talking to the wife of one of your father's business friends. She seems to have just sent her son back from studying abroad, and he's going to the same university as you. So....I was wondering you'd show him around campus and get him acquainted with a few of your friends. Please?"

"Yeah, sure. That's not a problem." Ok, now Kagome was starting to get a little suspicious. Her mom knew perfectly well she would help out on a favor this small. What was the catch? "So, uh, what's his name?"

There was a pause. Then, "Do you remember...Inuyasha?"

Kagome nearly dropped the phone.

___________________________________

Sango walked from the university parking lot with Kagome towards the main building. She was immersed in her own thoughts, trying to take things into perspective. She'd lost the case. That statement itself had taken her a couple of days to come to terms with. She'd lost and now...Kohaku... Sango stared at the ground, trying to steady her breathing. It partially worked.

"Sango..." Kagome hesitantly spoke up. She glanced at the still silent woman walking next to her worriedly. Ever since the verdict had been set a week ago, damn that judge, Sango had barely talked, and as far as Kagome could tell, she hadn't eaten anything either. It had come as a huge surprise when she'd called Kagome the day before and asked her in a rather alarmingly normal voice if they were going to meet up at the parking lot before classes. Neither of them mentioned the court case.

Sango turned to Kagome, smiling. "I'm fine Kagome. Really, I am." She added at the doubtful look on her friend's face. Realizing that even if Sango wasn't fine there was still no point in talking about it, Kagome gave a defeated sigh. 

As they neared the entrance Sango noticed a rather large crowd of girls giggling were effectively blocked their way in. Walking towards them curiously to see what all the commotion was about, Sango saw an appreciably handsome young man in the center of the throng. He stood with confident ease leaning against the doorway, smiling and talking with many of the girls surrounding him.

Kagome followed Sango's gaze and a mild look of realization crossed her face, "That's Miroku, the son of a multi-millionaire who lives in America. He's supposed to have just got back from studying abroad." Kagome then frowned. "Who's that white haired guy standing next to him?" The subject of her question was scowling a bit, seemingly annoyed at his share of admiring girls, while Miroku seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. The said white haired man was by no means old, but rather seemed to be the same age as Miroku.

Sango shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe another student who's come back from studying abroad."

Kagome nodded in consent, still eyeing the while haired man with curious interest. He looked awfully familiar for some reason....and he had amber colored eyes....pretty unusual color...suddenly she realized that Sango had already entered the building. Kagome ran to catch up and then slowed to a walk next to Sango with a resentful huff, "I understand why you wouldn't be interested in a couple of new college boys, but you could have at least waited for me to finish watching!"

Sango turned to her friend with a smile and said teasingly, "Maybe you should add drooling along with that. The way you were staring at them…" Her voice trailed off suggestively.

"I was not!" Kagome said indignantly, "His weird hair color got my attention and besides, he doesn't even look good!"

Sango lifted her hands in front of her in a gesture of surrender. "OK, ok, I get your point. No need to bite my head off, or use some other type of violence for that matter. We are in school after all."

Suddenly a look of horror crossed Kagome's face. "Oh no! I completely forgot! Sango I have to go! Without another word, Kagome sped off down the hall.

Staring after her, Sango blinked a few times wonderingly. There was still a good fifteen minutes before classes started. 'Why's she in such a hurry? Oh well, might as well go to class.' Sango turned to walk down another corridor, and entered the last classroom in the hallway. 

She chose a seat towards the front, and since the teacher had yet to arrive, Sango took out the notebook she usually used for taking notes in and began to doodle absentmindedly on one of the blank pages.

Drawing had been something she loved to do since...forever. Sango couldn't remember a time when a sketchpad and pencil hadn't been able to calm her nerves after something had disturbed or frightened her- particularly when her parents' arguments were at their worst. It had especially comforted her after her mother had died giving birth to her younger brother, Kohaku....

That had been almost nine years ago.

Sango blinked hard to clear her eyes for a moment. Her pencil's movement stopped abruptly. She closed the notebook as the teacher entered the room, and resigned herself to listening to Professor Kaede for the rest of class.

Just ten minutes into the class, the door opened again, and in stepped someone who looked oddly familiar to her. Oh, right...that idiotic transfer student. What was his name again?

"Ohmgosh!! It's **HIM**! **MIROKU!!**"

Of course. Miroku. That subtle hint had come from the various squealing female classmates next to Sango, who, in her opinion, were acting more like young teenage girls than anything else. Excited whispers erupted around her soon turning into outright talking and giggling, which forced Kaede to shout above the noise for everyone to be quiet and act like the mature adults they were suppose to be. Eventually, the clamor subsided.

It was at this point that Miroku decided tactfully to intervene, and said smoothly, "I apologize profusely for disrupting your class, Professor Kaede. This is my first day on campus, and I am afraid I had a bit of difficulty finding the classroom."

Sango resisted snorting as Kaede, seemingly won over by his gracious manner, forgave him immediately. A few moments later and she had allowed him to take a seat. Bad idea.

Half the class included girls who wanted him to sit next to them. Problem is, there's only one Miroku. 

Sango noticed, though she hadn't wanted to, that even though he kept a pleasant outlook, Miroku seemed very much irritated by all the attention. Of course, she didn't really blame him for being irked. Not only were the girls all gesturing to empty seats near them, or seats made empty by pushing others out of their seats, the guys, particularly those with girlfriends also waving frantically at him, were starting daggers at the poor transfer student.

'I suppose they're all interested in his money...I wonder what it was that Kagome forgot about earlier...' She sighed, and looked at her watch absently, and saw that nearly twenty minutes of class had been wasted. Then she realized who was next to her.

_____________________________

"Oh no! Mom is going to absolutely kill me if she finds out! I hope he hasn't wandered off!" Kagome frantically ran through the halls, looking for Inuyasha. She still remembered the most disturbing part of the phone conversation she'd had with her mom.

_"I should tell you Kagome, Inuyasha may not be the same person he was before. The years out of the country has helped him, I'm sure. Please try to get along won't you? Oh, and before I forget, he's going to be living in the apartment next to yours since his parents wanted him to be close to someone he knew. Inuyasha's plane arrives late tonight, so you'll meet him near the front of the school in the morning before classes, ok?"_

Ok? Sure everything's fine. Just great. Kagome sighed. She hadn't seen him in years...and they had separated under very uncomfortable circumstances. She was still feeling guilty over breaking up with Inuyasha right before he left to study abroad in America. But it wasn't your fault! A small indignant voice piped up inside her head. After all, what are you suppose to do when you find out your boyfriend has been keeping such a big secret from you-especially when that secret is that his family is involved in the black market?!

Yeah...Kagome slowed down to a walk as her thoughts wandered....What do you do when you find out something like that....

She still remembered at the airport.....her voice, so cold and hollow, so very unlike her usual self...and when she spoke. "Inuyasha.....its over."

Kagome closed her eyes. When she opened them, he was in front of her....wearing the most stricken face she had ever seen. She swallowed once and tried to speak, but couldn't. Then she noticed his eyes, how much pain they held. "Your eye color." She finally managed to say. "Are those contacts?"

"Ka...Kagome." Inuyasha said her name haltingly, almost longingly, but there was an underlying bitterness, as if he'd rather not say it at all. Then his expression changed abruptly to a scowl. "Damn it, took me forever to find you."

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha." Kagome smiled a little at his manner, glad that he was back to normal. Back then, when they were still....together, she remembered frowning at his rough words...she didn't mind so much now. "Welcome back."

She would ask him about his odd change of appearance later.

____________________________

'Oh, this is fun.' Miroku thought sullenly while scanned the room for a seat next to a girl who wasn't gushing at his face in adoration- or a guy with murderous intent. It had all been very well, talking to the admiring girls before class, but now he just wanted a little peace and sanity. 

Then he saw a young woman who was neither smiling seductively at him, nor grinning like someone who had just found their so-called "soul mate". Instead the said girl had a pretty neutral look on her face. She was pretty, though her hair was pulled back fiercely into a high ponytail, giving her a rather tomboy-ish look. Then again, the bangs framing her face gave it a slight feminine touch. 

He also noticed the look in her eyes. At first glance they were normal, well as normal as such mesmerizing chocolate colored eyes got, but he noticed a tinge of sadness hidden in their depths. Miroku noticed that sadness, because it was in his eyes as well, if for different reasons.

Ignoring his conscience, which was currently dissuading him frantically from having any contact with the girl, Miroku sat down next to her.

* * *

First ever Inuyasha fic, but you already knew that right? Well anyways, this plot's been in mie head for quite a while…so I figured what the heck I'll make it into a full-fledged fanfiction for my favorite couple in Inuyasha, along with the regular inu/kag paring. 

Hopefully no one's really confused...if anyone is ill try to explain things as quickly as possible. Im probably gonna have one chapter concentrating on Sango's past in detail. This chapter is mainly: Sango's trying to file a lawsuit to get her brother back (from who you'll havta wait to find out). Inuyasha and Kagome have dated before, however, before Inuyasha left to study abroad, he confessed to Kagome that his family had dealings in the black market. She broke up with him…and two years later, he's back. 

Well there you go. Next chapter may take a while to get out. I write slow. -_-;;

And of course feedback is always appreciated

  



	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: If in the middle of the night a bunch of lawyers still suffering from jet lag, hired by the genius Rumiko Takahashi herself, knocked on my door, then upon me opening it, (if they weren't scared off by my appearance at three in the morning) said that I was being sued for using the Inuyasha characters in my fanfiction, my reaction would be.......lets just say "surprised" won't cover half of it... 

I think I'm starting to see why fanfiction authors absolutely adore their readers and why some beg for reviews at the end of a chapter. The feeling after you read someone's positive input on your own miserable, hardly acceptable for human eyes writing....I can only say that those who met me afterwards were scared away by my hugs of joy.

And once again, thanks to Aylinn-chan for reading this over before I posted =]

  


Chapter Two

For the first few minutes after Miroku had decided to take his seat next to her, Sango had to endure the jealous glares sent her way by the female populace in the classroom. However, that wasn't the biggest annoyance, since halfway through the class, even the most dogged girls had stopped and turned forward in their seats, at least pretending to take in Kaede's lecture. 

Nope, it wasn't the girls in her class that bothered her, it was Miroku. For some unknown reason, he was staring at her.

As far as she was concerned, there was nothing about her that was particularly interesting or special to stare at. Whenever she glanced at him, he would quickly advert his gaze and stare at something else as if it were the most mesmerizing thing in the world. Go figure.

_'Compared to all those flirty waves and winks from the other girls, you'd think he would stare at them instead of some tomboy trying to take notes.'_ Sango wanted to ask him why in the world he was staring at her. Either that or smack that playboy's head and **make** him stare at someone else for a change.

Maybe she had sprouted horns or something. _'Oh right, and for some reason he's the only person who can see them_

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him with his gaze fixed on her face again.

Sango gritted her teeth. She had a fairly good temper, but when her anger was aroused, it often took her a fair amount of self control to keep it down. 

And this Miroku hadn't even so much as spoken to Sango and he was **already** annoying her. How girls were attracted to him was beyond her understanding.

She could still feel his eyes on her when.....

"Class dismissed." 

Sango had never been happier to hear those words. She placed her notebook and pencil back inside her backpack and left the classroom as fast as it was humanly possible without actually running off like a crazed person. 

She breathed a sigh of relief outside of the classroom. A quick glance back told her that Miroku had been surrounded by admiring girls and was in no position to even think about approaching her. Good.

Proceeding down the hallway in a leisurely walk, Sango headed for the cafeteria for a quick lunch before going to her next class. 

After standing in a rather long line, Sango took her tray of food outside and sat down at one of the small tables in front of the cafeteria. 

Since she had been distracted during class, she then decided to fix her notes as well as she could while eating. At least she had partially listened to Kaede's lecture. 

Upon opening her notes, Sango gave a small gasp of horror. She had written only two bullet points' worth of notes for a two hour long lecture. 

Damn it. How could she have let herself become distracted? Sango mentally berated herself for being so stupid.

Then she noticed what was on the page before. It was a sketch of her brother she had done a bit before Kaede had arrived. He had a small smile on his face...he was playing with only a half drawn Kiara. After the two siblings had been sent to a foster home, the small cat had to be given away.

Sango felt the tears well up in her eyes again. She hated her past, but she needed to remember it....or else...she would never be able to concentrate on her goals...nor would she be able to get her brother back if her concentration ever wavered.

But she could never become an artist. 

She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried, but right now, she was coming dangerously close to doing so.

Then.

_'Oh no.'_ Sango realized who had just sat down at a table next from hers. It was that Miroku again. He had followed her! 

He could have just eaten lunch inside, but no, that dolt was now sitting near her. Tears forgotten, Sango felt for the second time that day, anger well up inside of her. The idiot was still staring at her with that thoughtful look on his face.

Sango tapped her pencil on the table irritably. He kept staring.

*tap tap* *stare stare*

*tap* *stare*

*taptptp* *stare* 

She couldn't take it anymore.

Closing her eyes and opening them again, Sango calmed herself enough to speak without adding on a few bits of colorful vocabulary to better describe her annoyance. "Is there something you need, Akusou-sama?"

She had caught his surname from the short greeting he had given the class before trying to get a seat. Adding the honorific with a substantial amount of sarcasm suited her mood nicely.

Miroku seemed to have been caught off guard by her overly formal use of his name, but quickly regained his composure. "I was only admiring how captivating you look today Miss...ah.."

Sango ignored his obvious request for her name. "If you don't mind, I would like to finish fixing my notes in peace." The idiot stares at her in class, follows her, stalking even, and then sits next to her. Now he dares to compliment her? The nerve of that...

"Would you like to borrow mine?"

As much as she wanted to take those notes and smash them into that conceited face of his ...Sango looked back down at her nearly empty paper. _I suppose I don't have much of a choice.._

"Please."

__________________________

It was one of those rare times that Miroku was surprised. Of course it had everything to do with the beautiful young woman in front of him. Usually if he had spent the same amount of time around another person of the female gender, she would have been all over him. 

And he still didn't even know this one's name. She brushed her bangs out of her face a bit with a free hand while the other wrote notes in neat, but quick movements with a pencil. He got the feeling she was rushing her writing so that she could get away from him as fast as possible.

Well, that was a first.

"Thank you."

Miroku found himself staring at the slim hand that was currently holding his notebook. His hand brushed against hers for a moment as he took the notebook back. The touch made him want to grab her hand and hold it, as crazy as that sounded. Miroku glanced up at her. The clothes she wore seemed to purposely hide any femininity, but her face told another story. 

"My pleasure. " He gave her a charming smile. Once again, she seemed unperturbed by any of his subtle hints at flattery, and looked down at her nearly untouched tray of food. With a sigh, she began to eat.

Again the distinct feeling that she wanted to leave a soon as possible. Miroku sat back down at the table next to hers, and went back to typing on his laptop, glancing at her downbent face once in a while.

Damn this is awkward.

She looked up again, and there seemed to be anger simmering underneath the misleadingly calm expression on her face. "Is there a reason you've been staring at me?"

_Well it's only because of your eyes. Even though you try to hide it, I can still see the underlying pain. Why are they so sad? I really would like to know, because I think I can understand. Is it because you have an unspeakable past that haunts you constantly so that you can't truly every care for another person...just like me?_

"Have we...have we met somewhere before?"

"Eh?" Sango looked at him confused, then her lips quirked wryly. "I highly doubt it. ...it would seem unlikely that someone of your high social standing"-Miroku grimaced-"would have ever associated with someone like me"

"And what is someone like you?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "That, is none of your business."

Great. She was starting to get angry again. For probably the first time in his life, Miroku wasn't able to have a pleasant conversation with a woman.

A few moments later, Sango stood up and threw away the remains of her lunch in the trashcan next to Miroku's table. Then a wrapper she was holding fell onto the ground.

Sango bent down to pick up the fallen piece of trash...

Miroku happened to be sitting very close to where she was....very, very close.

Everyone has a limit.

Miroku was fast reaching his own.

The wrapper escaped her hand and she reached down again, bending over completely....

She was just _asking_ for this.

Sango then felt a hand on a part of her body that it had no right to be on.

She snapped.

Nothing could have prepared Miroku for the slap that followed. The crack of hand against flesh resounded loudly against their quiet surroundings.

"How dare you!" She shrieked, not caring about the fact that her blood pressure was probably dangerously high. The only thing Sango was feeling at the moment was an incomparable rage at the cringing playboy in front of her. "If you so much as dare to show your egotistical, perverted face in front of me again, I will personally make you regret it!"

And with that, Sango left, her backpack slung over one shoulder, leaving a very shocked Miroku behind.

__________________________

The day had been unbearably long, not to mention uncomfortable, for Kagome. Her first class had consisted of Inuyasha surrounded by flirtatious girls during break, who he had no success in driving away. Well, not until Kagome, who had felt some pity for him, had told all of his admirers to leave him alone, in a rather threatening manner. She had plenty of practice in death glares, what with a younger brother at home.

It had given them some peace and quiet, but also suggested the wrong idea about Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship, which was the last thing she wanted. It was already hard enough for her to talk to Inuyasha as it was, and the guilt that welled up inside of her only increased when Inuyasha made a point of ignoring her attempts at conversation.

For the fifth time, Kagome tried to talk to him. "Inuyasha..."

He kept staring ahead with a blank expression on his face. Kagome did a very good impression of an "Inuyasha scowl". "Dog-boy look at me when I'm talking to you!!"

That got his attention.

"What the hell?! Don't call me that!" Inuyasha snapped glaring at her. Well at least he wasn't ignoring her anymore. 

"Would it hurt you that much to show some manners?"

"No, but it did when you left." He said shortly.

That shut her up. 

Inuyasha stared at her hard. Then sigh irritably, "Don't give me that guilty look." 

Kagome turned her head forward, facing the courtyard full of people. Glancing at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye, Kagome knew they had to talk. Granted it was something she certainly didn't want to do....but.. the hurt Inuyasha tried so hard to hide every time he looked at her was slowly gnawing away at her conscience, making it difficult for her to concentrate on anything else. 

Trying to ignore her own selfish reasons for not broaching the subject of their break up right now, Kagome looked around at the campus full of people surrounding the two of them.

"Inuyasha...can you meet up with me later after classes?"

He grunted.

Ok then..I'll take that as a yes... "I need to talk to Sango first, so can we meet in front of the entrance after your last class in the afternoon?"

Another grunt.

"...Ok then.. its a d-" Kagome stopped, looking almost frightened for a moment then cleared her throat finishing rather lamely.... "I mean uh... I'll see you then. I-I'm going to go now... break is almost over.."

She stumbled through her words before hurrying off towards the building, her hair fanning out behind her as she went. 

__________________________

Inuyasha watched her leave, wishing that she would slow down. Not run away so fast. 

It reminded him too much of...that time. Two years...

he thought it would have been easy to forget by now.

Damn it.

_It's a d-_

It's a date.

It's adate. 

_date_

It would be too much to pretend nothing had changed. That their relationship hadn't changed. Inuyasha grimaced. She couldn't even say it. 

Its a date.

"It's a...da--"

He licked his bottom lip, sighed once, and leaned his head back, looking up at the sky with a humorless smile. So maybe she wasn't the only one who couldn't.

===========Flashback===========

Inuyasha had never been more nervous in his entire life. It didn't help that Kagome looked so nice...the candlelight gave her face an almost ethereal look...

He swallowed. This whole confession was going to be a lot harder than he thought. He was only half listening to Kagome's talking, and had barely eaten any of the food, even though the restaurant was one of the best in town.

He was too nervous too eat. 

That really said a lot about just how nervous he was. Inuyasha even admitted to himself that his appetite in a normal situation was....considerably larger than that of most people. 

Heh.

But that thought only made him remember just why he was so nervous in the first place. He wasn't quite normal. Well not quite **him** necessarily. It was more of the fact what his family did for a living. What he certainly **wasn't** going to do for a living. 

But, he wanted Kagome to know. He wanted her to know everything about him. 

Because she was special. 

"Inuyasha?"

"Eh?"

"You've been really quiet you know." Kagome's expression showed concern. "Are you feeling ok?"

He signed. Now or never. "Kagome..."

She knew something was up.

"Kagome. I want you to know that I care about you. A lot." He was embarrassed, and it showed by the telltale blush on his face, but Inuyasha was almost beyond caring now. This was **important**, damn it. 

The fact that Kagome was also blushing with a soft smile on her face...

That helped too.

"And, I care too much about you Kagome, to keep something hidden from you." Here he took a deep breath.

She looked at him, curious.

"Well...all those times I had to leave unexplained....or if I couldn't come to school...it was because of Sesshumaru's shipments coming in. I would usually have to assist in the management of the unloading of imports. And get rid of people who saw the imports and weren't suppose to."

Kagome stared at him, not quite comprehending his words. "What do you mean...?"

"Our family runs an illegal black market syndicate." Inuyasha said bluntly.

Her mouth opened slightly, eyes widening in disbelief...then her face showed anger...betrayal...

"You're _joking_...."

He looked at her...his eyes pleading with hers....please...please _understand_ "The reason I'm going to study abroad is.... because Sesshumaru doesn't want me to be influenced by the family job."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome was still trying to digest the information.

He winced.

"You lied to me."

There was a pain in his chest that the hardest of blows couldn't have compared with...

Kagome hated him.

"How could you...a syndicate....the black market...Inuyasha..." Her eyes blurred from unshed tears.

The pain in his chest increased.

Kagome...."Damn it. I wasn't planning on going into the syndicate after coming back from studying...I wanted to leave the whole thing behind...sever binds with my family....I wanted to change...after I met you."

"How do I know that isn't some other lie you made." Her voice was so unlike the Kagome he knew.

"Kagome, its not- I swear- its not-"

"Inuyasha...I..I need to go." She stood up clumsily, grabbing her purse.

"Kagome-" He half stood up reaching out to her-

She turned around and ran.

Ran away.

From him.

=========End Flashback========

Kagome waited for Sango in front of the still closed door to her friend's last class, fiddling restlessly with the hem of her skirt. 

"Kagome?" 

She looked up and smiled at Sango, "Hey, sorry for running off in the morning." 

"Oh, That's ok..." 

Was it just her or did Sango voice seem oddly strained? 

"You ok?" 

"...Mmm..." 

"Sango?" 

"Eh?" Her friend snapped back into attention, blinking at the younger girl. 

"Sango! Stop thinking about the case! Really, you can't change whets happened already-" 

"No. That's not it..." Sango's voice was stiff and she gripped the textbook in her hand a little harder than necessary. 

"It's not..?" Kagome eyed the young woman in front of her skeptically. 

Sango's expression darkened. "I wish it was." 

Being her best friend, Kagome knew better than to pry. Sango wasn't the type of person to tell you something just because you asked. 

If you got down on your knees and begged... 

she might consider. 

Kagome didn't feel like groveling at the moment. Her curiosity would have to wait. 

Well, now would be a good time to tell what was on her mind. At least it would distract Sango from whatever it was that was bothering her.... 

Kagome sighed. 

"Something on your mind?" What are best friends for besides reading your thoughts? 

"You could say that." 

"I'm guessing it has to do with you running of in the morning?" 

"Yeah..." 

Kagome gave another sigh, scrunched up her face in concentration as if to rally all her thoughts together, and relaxed her expression again, before speaking. "Inuyasha came back." 

Sango raised an eyebrow. "When did _this_ happen?" 

"Two days ago." 

"_Two_?" Both eyebrows were raised. 

"Yeah...but...uh...in the light of current events...I declined from mentioning it." The class she just had was English...but you knew that right? 

Sango's eyebrows were now in danger of disappearing off the face of her....face... 

So much for intellectual phrasing of words. 

"Well it was right when we found out the verdict, so I figured the news could wait till later. Anyways now you know that he's back... Speaking of the devil, I have to go meet up with him in front of the school." Kagome gave her watch a quick glance before looking up again with a wry smile. 

Sango's eyebrows that had just come back from the trip up her forehead were in danger of leaving once again as she commented, "I thought you broke up with him after you found out about... his family." 

"I did. We aren't back together or anything." Kagome said stiffly. 

"Ah. Ok." 

Was that **skepticism ** she heard in Sango's voice? 

Well she was just going to have to fix that.. 

Time for all out indignant ranting. "Sango! you know perfectly well on what terms we broke up. It was not fun for me to find out my boyfriend of nearly three years was keeping such a huge secret from me. I swear when I found out about it, I went through hell! Twice! Maybe even three times! How we are ever going to go back to our original relationship is beyond my comprehen-" 

Sango smiled good naturedly. "Any thoughts I've ever had about you two getting back together have abandoned my mind. Feel inclined to maybe not chop my head off now?" 

Damn. Sango knew her too well. 

With a few grumbles, Kagome consented "Fine then. Be the suspicious person that you are. I, on the other hand, am going to leave." She punctuated her words with an air of superiority that made Sango's smile widen. 

"Oh of course you wouldn't want to be late." She gave Kagome an altogether very un-Sango-like wink. 

"You know that's not what...."Kagome paused then continued with a huff. "Well at least Inuyasha isn't...isn't" -she scanned the hallway as if to find a witty way to end the sentence there-"Miroku!" She ended triumphantly. 

Sango's expression darkened considerably at that. "Oh I quite agree." The venom that poured forth from that sentence made Kagome start. When Sango was angry...things got scary....things also got thrown. or demolished. The extent of damage was usually directly proportional to how much rage she was in. 

Kagome sighed. 

Yeah she'd had a physics class that morning too. 

__________________________

He had already been waiting for fifteen minutes or so at the front entrance, arms crossed, with an annoyed expression on his face (due to excessive giggles and whispers about him from college girls passing by periodically), before seeing Kagome run into view. 

Inuyasha allowed himself a brief smile of relief, before scowling. "Damn it, is being late some kinda habit for you?" 

"Ahh, sorry, sorry Inuyasha! I was talking to Sango and forgot about the time." 

The smile on her face had him forgiving her soon enough. That happened very often, he mused as they walked out of the campus and then down the street. 

Kagome had insisted they walk. And ten minutes later...."Why am I here again?" 

"I _work_ here, don't make fun of it." Kagome said in a mock hurt voice. The two of them were currently sitting at a small booth inside a cafe. 

"Whatever." 

They sat in a rather uncomfortable silence. Inuyasha tried not to make it too obvious that he was watching her stir her drink with her straw... then take a sip from it...all the while her eyes downcast.. 

There was an almost tangible sense of tension in the air around them. He wondered if Kagome was still angry with him, still hurting from his confession. It pained him to remember that day when he'd finally mustered the courage to tell her...and then only to feel her cold rejection after. 

Two years was a long time. Perhaps not long enough. 

But Inuyasha didn't blame her. He had almost expected her to leave him after he told. He had originally wanted to keep it from her, but after so many unexplainable disappearances, Kagome had started to become suspicious. And he hated lying to her about where he'd been. The last thing he had wanted was for her to think he was two-timing her. 

So he had confessed everything about Sesshumaru's syndicate. And his involvement in it. 

A pain in his chest was re-invoked every time he thought about it. 

He shouldn't have kept it from her so long. 

Kagome. 

She would probably never forgive him. 

He looked up abruptly and it seemed simultaneously she had done so as well. They locked eyes for the briefest moment, then both blurted out- 

"I'm sorry." At the same time. 

It broke the tension quite nicely. Kagome gave a short breathless laugh, a rush of relief enveloping her voice. 

Inuyasha looked at her curiously. "Why are you sorry?"

She quieted and sighed before speaking hesitantly, "I...I'm-I don't know. Well, I do know. It's because of, you know. Before. I mean. _sigh_ After you...told me everything, the next day, at the airport, I..." Kagome looked up at him and swallowed once before continuing softly. "I shouldn't have been so blunt about breaking up. It must have been hard for you to confess....and I didn't even stop to consider your position..."

Inuyasha stared at her hard for a moment. "You shouldn't be sorry. Kagome, you had every right to say what you did before I left, you know."

"So. What about you?"

"You should know." He grimaced. "I shouldn't have kept anything from you. At least I should have told you about...you know. My family. Even if there was the chance that you would break it off with me. I still shouldn't have lied all those times, and, I know it's pretty much pointless, but I wish I could take it all back. I know I can't, but I do want you to know that I regret it."

"Inuyasha, we can't ever go back to where we were." Kagome said softly.

"I know."

"Can we still be friends?"

What a cliche question. Inuyasha felt a clench on his heart. 

Can we still be friends.

Can we? 

He still remembered what Kagome was to him. He still remembered all those times they had shared. He hated himself for being so nostalgic. But....

Can we still be friends?

"Yes." The word felt like a boulder weighing him down.

Kagome smiled. "I'm glad." 

When he left, she was walking towards the back of the cafe to get ready for the afternoon shift.

At least this time she wasn't running away from him.

__________________________

After several rings, Inuyasha got up grudgingly to answer the phone.

"Hello?" A female voice spoke.

"Wrong number." Inuyasha snapped into the phone, not caring who it was. The caller had woken him up. Therefore he would ignore them. After slamming the receiver down, he promptly fell back onto his bed and pulled the covers up.

*ring*

Damn. 

*ring*

There was no way he would pick-

*ring*

No way in-

*ring*

He gave up. "What the hell do you want?!"

"Good morning to you too."

_We're just friends._ "Damn it, Kagome you better have a good reason for waking me up-"

"At noon? On a Saturday?"

_Just friends.._"Goodbye." 

"NO! wait!"

_maybe..._"What?!"

"Can you come to lunch with me and a few of my friends? We're meeting up in half an hour at the campus cafeteria."

_Just maybe..._"Why the hell would I want to -"

"Inuyasha! Do you mind speaking one sentence without a swear word in it?"

"Hell yes."

"Inuyasha. It is my responsibility to introduce you around campus. That will be impossible unless you come out of your room!"

"..."

He heard a sigh. "There's ramen. I'm paying."

_Just maybe...it won't be so bad after all.._"Ok, see you there."

Half an hour was it? Good. He still could get fifteen more minutes of shut eye before leaving.

Inuyasha grinned. Now that there was the prospect of ramen for lunch..... he was a bit surprised that Kagome still remembered his preference for it. 

With a content sort of sigh, Inuyasha pulled the covers over his head and went to sleep, or tried to anyways.

His doorbell rang.

Why was everyone out to get him today?

Muttering incoherently to himself, Inuyasha got up and opened his door.

"Hey." 

Inuyasha scowled. "Go away Miroku."

"Now that's not nice, Inuyasha." Miroku brushed past him and entered the messy apartment. "You ought to clean up a bit you know."

"Stop acting like my mom."

"At least you have one."

Inuyasha stared. What do you say to something like that? His scowl returned full force. "If you're looking for sympathy don't come running to me."

"I'm not trying to." Miroku said tersely, while seeming to wish he hadn't said anything. _Well it's not my fault_, Inuyasha thought, annoyed, _He was the one who brought it up. _ "Want to go get lunch?" Miroku spoke abruptly.

"Can't" Inuyasha said, voice stiff.

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because..."

"None of your business."

"Of course it is." Miroku had a look of complete seriousness on his face."If you're going out with pretty girls without telling me-"

Inuyasha couldn't say no, exactly. So he told. "Kagome invited me out to lunch. WITH some of her friends, " He glared at Miroku as if to dare him to comment.

"I want to come, too."

Inuyasha snorted. "Don't bother. You'll make me look bad. "

"Ah, well it figures you don't want to spoil your image in front of Kagome..."

Miroku ignored Inuyasha's indignant sputtering.

"But I really don't see the point, since as soon as you step into the cafeteria, lovely young women will be bombarding you from all sides." Miroku looked at Inuyasha pointedly.

Inuyasha glared. But Miroku already knew he had won, and it showed through the annoyingly serene smile on his face. 

"Keep the bitches away from me and you can come."

"Ok then" Miroku smiled cheerfully. "Let's go."

"...get this over with..."

* * *

Well, the main reason it took so long for me to update was because of my putting off writing the two dates for Inuyasha and Kagome. (one past, one present) now that I've written them...the original reason for putting them off has escaped me -_-;; so all i can say is I'm so sorry for taking so long and hope that someone remembers this little fanfiction enough to read it.

And since you've most likely done so (or else you probably wouldn't be reading this), thank you very, very much.

As always, feedback is very very much appreciated ^_^

  



	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I like cheese. Therefore I own cheese, right in my fridge. Same goes for my computer (minus the fridge part) Unfortunately, the same concept cannot be applied to Inuyasha. T_T

I reread Ch2. The amount of corn in those Inuyasha and Kagome scenes made me choke, and I am a bit surprised that there was no negativity in the reviews about it. (as usual the fact that I would probably never post this chapter if I tried to revise the last one kept me from de-corning those scenes, also with my regular bout of laziness intact). 

And as a small note: I hate the first part of this chapter. I didn't revise it any more than ten times due to same reasons as above. And its still saddeningly dry, and I apologize for sticking in more corn. Things get better towards the middle-endish area, hopefully it was worth the long, long wait. *hopeful smile* =D 

  
  
  
  
  
**Chapter 3 **

Kagome looked towards the cafeteria entrance. No flash of white hair. No gold eyes. 

She sighed, glanced at the clock. 

Ten minutes past noon. 

Did you finish your thesis yet, Kagome?"

"I wish." 

"How much more to go? 

"Four." Kagome grumbled, then perked up. "What about you Ayame?" 

Said girl grimaced as the question was turned back on her. "Lets not go there. What about you Kouga?" 

"Eh?" Was the intelligent reply through a mouthful of food. 

"The thesis." Kagome supplied helpfully. 

"What thesis?" 

"You know, the one due on Tuesday-" 

"Who did you invite?" Ayame said suddenly. 

"You''ll know when he comes." Kagome rolled her eyes. Ayame had been trying to get the answer out of her ever since Kagome had said she'd invited a friend. Now she was trying to spring the question up spontaneously, hopefully to catch Kagome off guard enough to give an answer. 

"He?" Ayame grinned. "So its a 'he' is it?" 

Sango groaned. "We have been through this a million times. Kagome's _friend_ is joining us for lunch. Not like she can't have a platonic relationship with a guy you know." 

Kagome smiled at her gratefully, 

Sango lowered her voice slightly. "Don't worry about it. He'll come. Inuyasha might be clueless, but he wouldn't forget something you told him." 

Kagome scoffed, "Really, if he had half the brains of a starfish-" 

"Kagome, starfish don't have brains." Sango said, ignoring the weird look Ayame was giving them. 

"My point exactly! He probably did forget, its twenty minutes now! And here I am doing that insensitive **jerk** this favor of introducing his-" 

"Um, Kagome." 

"-**antisocial**-" 

"Kagome-" 

"-**Crude**-" 

Sango then said loudly and pointedly. "Hello _Inuasha._" 

"**-lazy-bumed**-eh?" 

Kagome turned around to see... 

"OH. Inuyasha! Miroku!" Her voice was rather high pitched; her eyes darted nervously between the two men. "You see, er...I wasn't talking about...ah...how much of that did you hear?" 

"What do you mean, Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked innocently and slapped a hand over Inuyasha's mouth before he could yell out something he would surely regret. 

"Nevermind. Er. You _are_ Miroku right?" 

"Yes, of course. A pleasure to make your aquaintance, Kagome-sama." Miroku was in charmer mode again. "After all I've heard from Inuyasha, you certainly are just as beautiful as he described." 

Blushing furiously, Kagome stuttered a thank you. 

Miroku hastily pulled his hand away from Inuyasha's indignant sputtering. 

__________________________

_"These are my friends Ayame, Kouga and Sango."_

Sango. 

_So that is her name_, Miroku mused as he sat with Inuyasha and the others.

Sango. Coral. 

The name suits her, he thought with a supressed smile. Delicate yet strong.

He tried to clear his thoughts by smiling at a group of women waving at him flirtatiously from a nearby table. Didn't work. 

Miroku felt rather silly. He, of all people, who had had more girlfriends than he cared to count (and many of which he had no recollection of their name whatsoever), had felt ridiculously happy at having heard _her_ name. And consequently felt an unreasonable amount of gratification towards Kagome for having told him. 

Corny, yes, but nevertheless, it was true. 

Not that Sango herself cared. She was still carrying herself in the same calm, and reserved manner, sitting diagonally across from him at the long lunch table. He himself talked with Kagome and her friends, except for Sango, and as she pointedly ignored his various attempts at friendly conversation, Miroku felt a certain _something_ nagging at him. 

Well, one thing was for sure. Sango was still angry at him. For the groping incident. And perhaps the flirting as well. 

Miroku sighed. 

Through all of his experience as a 'lady charmer', Miroku had had his fair share of occasional blunders. This would result in said lady getting pissed off. After numerous encounters with rather intimidating female rage, he had developed apologizing into an art. Within five minutes, he could produce a watery smile and a "you're forgiven". 

However, as he sat with Kagome and the others for the remainder of lunch (the enthusiastic crowd of girls having finally left), Miroku felt that his so far kept record would be sorely tested by none other than Sango, who was determinedly ignoring his very existence. 

And he(rather reluctantly, since it was a harsh sort of blow to his ego) had come to conclusion. For some unfathomable reason(_or maybe its because he had groped her....hm..now there's a possibility_, he thought dryly), Sango nursed a strong dislike for him, Miroku. The irony was rather obvious. 

At first glance Sango seemed to be the tomboyish college girl with a tough, and perhaps reserved exterior, but was in reality just a shy innocent. 

Too bad reality had taken Miroku out on a limb. He had flirted subtly with her, expecting Sango to blush and stammer, playing easily right into his hands. 

Instead, what he got were terse replies and cold looks. And if Miroku's years of breaking hearts were anything to go by, Sango was not trying to play hard to get. It was more of a 'I'm not interested, you'll never get me, so dream on' sort of thing. 

Any normal, remotely sane college guy would have given up under these circumstances. 

However, Miroku wasn't just any normal college guy, and well, Inuyasha could vouch for his sanity at best. 

So he therefore decided to take the plunge, and hoped to come out unscathed. 

"Miroku?" 

He looked away from Sango, who was in conversation with Ayame and Kouga, rather reluctantly. 

"You look distracted. Something on your mind, Miroku-kun?" 

He had only known her for a short hour or so, but Miroku could already appreciate Kagome as a friend. The fact that Inuyasha had mooned over her constantly while they had gone to university together while abroad gave him the impression that Kagome was the perfect woman in every way. And, as Inuyasha often would mutter, half to himself, a woman that he couldn't believe he had lost his chance with. Well the real Kagome wasn't quite that amazing. But she was surprisingly close to the description Inuyasha had given him years before. 

At the moment curiosity was evident in her voice. However, an hour was only an hour. If she had known him for half as long as Inuyasha had, Kagome wouldn't have bothered to ask what was on his mind. Since Miroku would certainly not give a satisfactory answer to such a question. 

"Oh not at all, Kagome." Miroku lied easily, his gaze flitted to Sango again, before returning to in front of him. _She had been watching him_

Oh, he was definitely taking that plunge. 

Inuyasha snorted. "Don't mind her. She's just been eyeing that chocolate you got from on of those freaky girls."

Oh, that. Miroku resisted the urge to roll his eyes. A young woman, sporting what had looked like her entire makeup collection on her face, had scrambled forward a while after his arrival at the cafeteria and thrust a box of gifwrapped chocolates into his hand. 

Kagome turned red while glaring furiously at Inuyasha. "Who-who says I've been-" 

"...though I dunno why she likes that crap." Inuyasha continued on, oblivious to Kagome, who looked as if she was trying to stare bullet holes through him. 

Miroku coughed slightly, and then pushed the box across the table to Kagome, and spoke up pleasantly, "You can have it. I'm not particularly fond of chocolate myself." 

"Hey how come you get candy?" Inuyasha grumbled, dropping the subject on chocolate only to go off on a worse one. "All I have is a shitload of paper scraps." 

The 'shitload of paper scraps' may be better discribed as phone numbers jotted down hastily and then given to Inuyasha, also when he had been on the way to the cafeteria. It had not lightened Kagome's mood to see his little fanclub twittering and waving at him from the cafeteria entrance, but she had at least endured it smoldering silently. 

However, at this point, glaring was not nearly enough. 

"**Have you no shame**?!"Kagome seethed gripping the edges of the table as she leaned forward menacingly towards a slowly receding Inuyasha. Parading yourself out there and then taking phone numbers from those- those-_women_-"

"Kagome, calm down. It just shows you have good taste. If all those other girls like Inu....yasha....then....uh..." Ayame's voice faltered. She coughed and returned to her salad. Kouga patted her head absentmindedly, which in turn resulted in him getting his own death glare as well, courtesy of a now mussed hair Ayame. 

"Keh, I don't see why you have to be so sensitive. It's not my fault that those freaky girls were all over me. And it's definitely not my fault that you're so jealous." 

Miroku closed his eyes. Inuyasha could be amazingly stupid sometimes. When he reopened them, Ayame and Sango were both restraining Kagome from throwing herself at Inuyasha-but not in an affectionate manner by any means. Kouga was staring with avid interest, as Kagome's more violent side making an appearance was rare indeed. 

Inuyasha still didn't know what he had said wrong and resumed an indignant air about him, as he stared back defiantly at Kagome. 

_He is one brave soul_, Miroku thought as he glanced at Kagome's furious expression. He then chanced a quick look at Sango. Their eyes locked for a moment, and she rolled her eyes as if to say _'They're hopeless'_. 

Miroku half grinned in return, _For once she isn't mad at me_. 

Then Sango seemed to realize what she had done and abruptly averted her gaze, her face clouding over with obvious annoyance at her. 

So much for that.

Oh yeah, and his record of forgiven' produced in five minutes? 

Completely trampled. 

__________________________

Sango sat in her seat allowing the last bits of her annoyance at a certain young man named Miroku to fade. And trying to block out the outraged yells from both Kagome and Inuyasha while Ayame and Kouga tried to stop their fight. 

_Lover's spat. Something I doubt I will ever go through._ She thought wryly. _But it's nice to know Kagome has found someone like Inuyasha._

Even if at the moment her friend was still on the road to forgiveness, she felt Kagome would reach her destination soon enough. And, Sango realized with a certain amount of surpise, that Inuyasha was probably worth forgiving. 

"Um...Sango isn't it?" 

Oh, great. Guess its game over for 'How long can you evade talking to Miroku'. 

She raised her head with a sigh, and said in a strained voice, "Yes." Her eyes flickered upward toward his for a moment. 

"I would just like to say that I am deeply sorry for causing any ill feelings you might still be harboring after our encounter a few days ago." HE said, voice layered with practiced sincerity.

"Really."

He looked somewhat taken aback. "Perhaps this isn't the best place to speak about this....can I talk to you alone for a moment please?" 

"No, thank you."_He looks like he's never heard that word before_ Sango noted dryly. 

Then he seemed to try another tactic. "Oh, but Sango-san, I don't bite." 

Did he just wink? 

"Excuse me." Sango said, her voice cold as ice while her eyes glared at Miroku. She stood up stiffly; the abrupt movement nearly knocking her chair onto the ground, and walked away, the beginnings of her good mood shattered. 

__________________________

Once again, Miroku was completely and utterly in shock. This, you might want to know, rarely ever happened to someone who was usually able to keep his emotions in check without much effort. 

Actually Miroku couldn't remember the last time he had lost his composure so frequently as he had these past few days.. 

And once again it was Sango who had procured this reaction from him. It was unnerving to say the least. Ok, so he may have gone off a little when he...er...invaded her personal space, but- 

_She acts as if flirting is liable to be prosecuted on a charge for felony.._ Miroku sighed, as he watched her walk off. He couldn't get rid of the image of her eyes flashing dangerously. And he didn't even want to _think_ about why he couldn't. 

Ignoring Kagome and Inuaysha's questions and blank looks from Ayame and Kouga, he stood up and followed after Sango. He was going to get his apology through whether she liked it or not. He was being stubborn, and he knew it. Too bad. 

Of course he couldn't forget the fact that no matter how he tried to ignore it, there was guilt, believe it or not, mixed in with the disbelief, surprise and frustration, and some other feelings he stubbornly refused to admit to feeling. 

She didn't have to tense up and glare at him, with murder in her eyes. She didn't need to openly scorn his attempts at conversation. She didn't need to reply with terse words and then ignore him. 

She didn't have to be so angry at him. 

He wondered what her pleasant face looked like. 

Miroku felt irritated suddenly. 

Why did he care anyways? 

But his footsteps only quickened at that thought, intent on catching up with Sango. He was almost caught up, opening his mouth to say her name. 

And that's when he saw. 

__________________________

_He stares at me. Stalks me. Then dares to flirt with me. And then he gropes me. Now it's like some kind of '**repeat**' process is it?_

Sango walked swiftly out of the cafeteria, badly in need of some fresh air. The afternoon was grossly beautiful and sunny. Afternoon traffic squealed its tires and honked its way down the street as she made her way down the empty sidewalk. 

Why did Miroku's flirting bother her so much anyways? 

It's not as if she was _affected_ by it or anything... 

Sango grimaced. 

Usually advances by flirtatious men she could ignore pretty easily, or stop with a few sarcastic remarks, but for some reason Miroku annoyed her enough to send her blood boiling at the thought of his stupid, perverted ways. 

Perhaps it was because of how he represented the epitome of all womanizing men. Perhaps it was because.... 

No. She was not going there. 

Half blinded by frustration and a healthy dose of muddled emotions, Sango quickened her pace, walking onto the street to evade a few fallen branches on the sidewalk, engrossed in her thoughts. 

She didn't realize what was happening until too late. 

Somewhere in the edge of hearing, Sango caught the frantic yell of "Watch out-!!" before a rough push sent her sprawling to her left, just in time to see the blur of a car pass by, missing her by mere centimeters. And it then the speeding convertible stopped abruptly, the screech of brakes tore through the air.. 

The ominous thud that resounded was enough to make Sango push herself off the ground awkwardly, feet still a little unsteady, her mind wondering 'What the hell just happened?' and her heart thudded loudly at an uncomfortably fast rate against her chest. 

Standing up, she could only stare at the scene before her. The car that would have hit her had stopped in the middle of the road, its driver had open the door and rushed outside....

_Oh._

Sango, eyes wide with shock and horror, couldn't tear her gaze from the sight of an unconscious Miroku lying on the ground, with blood gushing out of a huge gash across his forehead. 

__________________________

The first thing he noticed as he regained consciousness was that his head felt like it had been rammed into something extremely hard, and then run through a brick wall- something his dazed mind acknowledged as not good. 

He also found it hard to breathe, since his ribs felt extremely sore, or maybe extremely broken was a better description... 

Then he remembered why his body was in such a condition- he had seen the car about to hit Sango, and then he had ran forward to push her away. 

_I must have gotten hit in the process_ Miroku was still dazed enought to only being able to think the most painfully obvious of thoughts. 

It was a pretty strange thing, to be lying in the hospital he supposed, eyes closed, thinking about the fact he had been hit by a thousand pounds of metal. 

Miroku reluctantly opened his eyes. First thing, he saw on the calendar that it was the ninth. Which meant he had been out for a day. 

_Well, I guess that means my injuries weren't too serious. _

But they were serious enough that he winced while trying to sit up and get a better look at his surroundings. 

And then his eyes flattened at the sight of a large pile of gifts and heart shaped balloons with notes attached, mostly saying things along the lines of "GET BETTER SOON! LOVE YUMI"...or Eri, or Sakura, or... 

Miroku winced and closed his eyes again. His headache returned. 

__________________________

"Inuyasha visited him this morning."

Yesterday, after waiting outside the hospital room Miroku had been transferred to for an hour or so, Kagome, Sango, and Inuyasha had been told by the doctor that with the tranquilizers and doses of medicine Miroku had taken, he wouldn't wake up for at least another twenty four hours. 

The next morning, Kagome had visited Sango at her apartment. 

"And he told me Miroku's fine. Nothing a few days in the hospital won't cure." Kagome smiled slightly. "But he calls broken bones and head concussions 'no big deal' so that probably won't be much to go on." 

"I see." Sango said vaguely staring up at the ceiling from her bed. She was currently sprawled on her back and methodically throwing a baseball into the air with a slight flick from the wrist of her uplifted arm and then catching it as it came back down. She had spent the past fifteen minutes or so repeating the movements, much to Kagome's chagrin. 

She should have taking his annoying compliments to heart, and she shouldn't have gotten so angry at him. After all, Miroku probably didn't know how to do anything except flirt with a girl, since he seemed unable to have a platonic friendship with a woman. 

The words 'my fault' seemed to have been branded into Sango's mind, however. And she couldn't get rid of the nagging voice that said 'If you only hadn't gotten so angry, then this could have been avoided. 

I hadn't been a _complete_ idiot, she had argued with herself. Maybe somewhat of an idiot, but not completely- 

Sango sighed. Up went the baseball. 

The guilt welled up inside of her in an unwelcome reminder that the only reason Miroku was in the hospital was because of her. 

And down the baseball came. 

"So.." Kagome spoke up hesitantly. "Um. Are you going to...er...visit him?" 

Sango said nothing. 

"I think you should." Kagome continued brusquely. "you should...you know. visit him at the hospital."

More silence. 

Sango threw the baseball up in the air with another throw. "I will."

Oh. 

Silly her, _of course_ Sango would feel obligated to go. She'd always had a high sense of responsibility. Sometimes unbearably so. 

"Well then. Let's go now." 

Sango caught the baseball again and lifted her head slightly to look at Kagome. "_Now_?"

"Yes **now**." Kagome said in a voice that sounded alarmingly similar to that of her own mother's. "Before you decide that it really isn't worth it to keep your integrity intact for this little trip to the hospital." 

With a sigh, Sango lifted herself off her bed and stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles of her shirt with a resigned air."Ok then Kagome. We'll go _now_"

__________________________

Sango stood in front of the hospital, wavering from stepping through the sliding doors to the patients' ward. Kagome had already gone in to the front desk. 

Should she go in? 

Yes, Miroku was in the hospital. As the person most responsible for putting him in there, you should go in and at least visit him. And perhaps apologize. 

No, the thought of apologizing to that conceited playboy makes me want to loose my breakfast. Not that she was nervous or anything. Of course not. 

Sango sighed. And she had always hated hospitals. Most connected the palce with recovery, or perhaps a sanctuary after injury. She herself associated it with death. And now she really didn't feel like going into the hospital. 

At that point, Kagome decided to take the decision into her own hands. 

"Sango! Hurry UP!!!" She found herself pushed through the entrance."Come on, no way I'm letting you back out now!!" And with that the girl grabbed Sango's arm and pulled her into through the hallway and past the receptionist's desk. 

A few minutes and one elevator ride later found both of them standing in front of Miroku's hospital room. Kagome opened the door and gestured for Sango to go before her. 

"You go in first." Sango said hesitantly. 

"Nuh uh,"Kagome shook her head. There was a suspiciously guilty smile on her face."You go." 

Sango stared at Kagome a moment, considering the odd expression on her friend's face. She sighed. Obviously, Kagome wasn't tell her something. 

She crossed her arms. "Ok, Kagome. What is it?" 

Said girl had a caught look on her face as she opened her mouth hesitantly before speaking. "Um.... See, when I said you should visit him 'now', I really meant you. Just you. You know? Heh...heh..." 

Excuse me? 

"Er...I well...I need to go uh...yeah. So you should visit Miroku on your own." She cringed at the look Sango was currently giving her. 

"Kagome...I am going to be a kind and respectful friend and ask you why before I kill you."

Sango was one of those people with an amazing amount of self-control. She could be calm during very chaotic and stressful situations. However, when she lost it, things tended to become highly uncomfortable for the person she directed her anger towards. So, Kagome, smart girl that she was, decided on the option of talking fast and then running. Far, far away. 

She took a huge breath to ready herself before blurting out, "ItsbecauseIhavetomeetInuyashasincewearegoingtostudyforchemistrytogethergottago!!" Kagome then wasted no time giving her a strong push through the door and running off, nearly skidding as she turned at the end of the hallway. 

And she left behind a fuming Sango, standing next to Miroku's hospital bed. 

"Am I dreaming? Is this really the beautiful lady Sango here to visit my poor bedridden self?" 

_He is injured...he is injured...you do not hurt an injured person..._ Sango chanted to herself, while refusing to look at Miroku, and focused on other things in the room. Her eyes fell on his get-well gifts. _Is that some kind of life-size teddy bear?!_

__________________________

Her hair was in its usual high ponytail, her clothing just as tomboyish. And yet, there were times that she would suddenly look completely different. 

Like now, when she was remescing about high school, her head tilted a little upward at a slight angle. The sunlight danced on her hair and face, falling gently across her shoulders. There was a ghost of a smile on her face as she spoke. 

For the moment, she had forgotten he was there, but Miroku didn't mind. She had dropped her mask of coldness, and he was too busy watching her to really take in much of what she was saying. 

He had been surprised enough to see her enter the room, just as he had woken from his nap. And now she acted as if maybe she wasn't angry with him anymore. Which once again, brought around the ridiculous urge for Miroku to grin like an idiot. 

"What are you smiling about?"A sharp voice broke him out of his revere and making him realize that he _had_ been grinning like an idiot. He automatically said one of his complimentary lines without thinking. 

"Simply the fact that you are here beside me, Sango."

Mistake. 

He immediately saw the flicker of irritation and possible beginnings of anger in Sango's eyes, and quickly tried to assuage the situation, "I only wish to express my gratefulness for your kind consideration of my well being after-" 

"Save your practiced speeches for one of your fangirls, Akusou." 

Miroku inwardly grimaced. He should have known that none of his usual tactics with women would work with Sango. 

Ok, third try. 

"Sango, all I'm saying is that I'm glad you're talking to me." He was trying his best not to sound desperate. 

Why was he so intent on keeping her from getting angry at him anyways? 

Sango smirked at him-actually _smirked_. "See? Talking without premeditating isn't _that_ hard is it?" 

She had been stringing him along the entire time?! 

How Sango managed to knock him off balance like this **repeatedly** was beyond his comprehension. 

And once again, Miroku was speechless. 

That seemed to be happening an awful lot ever since he'd met her. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
AN: This was _long_. I dunno if that's a good thing or not. =T I was going to make this longer...but I'll have to save my evil idea till next time ;) Chapter 4 will most likely be a short one, but is planned out already, which is to say, I'm hoping to finish it in a much shorter timeframe than it took for this chapter. =)   
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I think you've all pretty much gotten the idea for this thing. No more writing these after this chapter. Check one of the first three if you ever get the urge to make sure I'm not some miraculously English-prone Rumiko Takahashi. 

  
  
Chapter Four

She hated hospitals. 

So much white, stretched across the rooms.

Pale as death. 

And too clean.

How could a place that was a myriad of injury and death be so void of blood to the passing eye? There were no tears in sight, and day old, weeks old wounds were camouflaged by tranquilizers, morphine, and the like. A heavy layer of disinfectants settled over the rooms. 

It was too quiet, Sango noted, as she sat next to Miroku's bedside, talking, emersing herself in the conversation. Anything to distract herself. 

There were no yells of horror from patients waking from old nightmare wounds bleeding anew. At least, not any she could hear in the calm quiet of this hospital room. No muffled screams of pain from injections of excruciating pain. And the opaque walls and heavy doors enclosed and blanketed the internal suffering.

Perhaps this was a rather morbid description. But Sango had her reasons.

Her father had died here. Followed by her mother. Kohaku had been welcomed back to the Miyazaki family with open arms, after she had left on her own. After she finally couldn't take it anymore, and left the care of her foster family without him. Something which she still regretted today. It didn't matter that she was trying to make up for it now. Didn't matter that no one knew except for herself. And Kagome. She had hated herself for the decision.

And six years later, she was still paying the price. 

____________________

"So. What high school?"

"Kouroshima. Of course not as prestigious as the one you went to." Miroku said grinning.

Sango rolled her eyes. "I try."

"Ok then. What are you majoring in?"

A grimace. "Business."

"Somehow I don't think you're ecstatic about it. But shouldn't you major in something you're interested in? Or is this a parents thing?"

"My choice." Sango said, her voice edged with bitterness. _My parents, he says. What parents? The dead ones definitely aren't giving me any advice. And I sure could use some right about now..._

"-to leave-"

"Eh?"

Miroku gave her a strange look. Oh, great. Here comes the typical _"Are you ok? Something wrong?"_ bit.

His expression returned to normal. "I said, I can't wait to leave and get out of this place."

Or not.

"Don't like hospitals?"

"No." Was the short reply. His eyes unfocused for a moment, probably in a similar fashion to Sango just before.

_I wonder who she is._

Some could call it jumping to conclusions, but this time, there wasn't much jumping involved, considering who he was. "Akusou."

"Eh?" 

_Maybe he's waiting for the typical "something wrong?" bit, too._

"You'll get your wish in two days." Sango allowed her lips to curl, somewhat reluctantly.

_Well he wasn't going to get it either._

He smiled back. 

"So. Am I forgiven?"

Sango rolled her eyes at him and stood up, brushing away the last shreds of their conversation. "I better go, don't want to be late for work."

He, however, wouldn't let the subject drop. "Am I?"

Sango looked at him for a moment. His face had lost all signs of teasing, and, she noticed with some surprise, he was waiting expectantly for a truthful answer. 

"I suppose." She finally managed. Then her eyes flashed. "But if you do something like that again, I'll..."

Her voice lost a bit of its momentum at the huge grin that had spread on his face. It was the sort of grin indicating that he thought it had been worth getting hit by a car and having to stay in the hospital just to hear those words from her.

_Or_, Sango thought with a sigh, _it was because of the attractive,make-up plastered nurse that had just walked in._

____________________

"I still can't believe you left me there." Sango grumbled as she and Kagome walked to their morning classes the next day.

"Well at least you got it over with." Kagome replied reasonably

Guessing from the fact that Sango wasn't trying to kill her at the moment, the visit to the hospital hadn't been entirely bad. "So, to hear more detailed information, how is he?"

"Fine."

Kagome looked at her, exasperated, before throwing on a rather unreadable smile and asked, "Really? So what did you guys talk about that made you stay for nearly three hours?"

Sango turned her head sharply to face Kagome, "What?"

"Don't act surprised. A small group of Miroku's many fangirls decided to pay him a visit, and I over heard them telling some other people that they saw you leave the hospital room. At noon." 

"Really?" Sango stared off keeping a carefully disinterested look on her face, but of course she felt none of that. Trust Kagome to find out about this sort of thing.

"So did you judge the book by its cover? Any chance the playboy is actually decent?"

"N-" Sango stopped. It wouldn't be quite fair to say 'no' necessarily. "Maybe." She finally said, in an evasive tone. "How did studying with Inuyasha go?"

"Eurgh. Don't remind me. I don't understand why he signed up for a chemistry major of all things in this world."

"Kagome, is he still...um..." Sango started hesitantly.

"No." She replied flatly. "Cut off all relations after he went to study abroad."

"So then he's not doing any of that illegal-"

Kagome shook her head wildly as Ayame approached them.

Sango snapped her mouth shut and instead waved a greeting at the brown haired girl walking towards them currently grinning from ear to ear.

"So." Ayame stopped and gave Sango a mischievous look. "I never would have though this would happen....not in a million years."

"Eh?"

"Seriously, at first I thought you hated him, but wow. That was a really fast turnaround, Sango."

Sango raised an eyebrow. "Ayame, plain English would be good."

"You. Miroku. Together." Ayame said each word slowly and clearly.

It took a long time for Sango to recover from her shock. Kagome's unbelieving look (which later on transitioned to an endless stream of questions and giggles) didn't help much.

____________________

The sharp, persistent ring of her alarm clock at six in the morning rudely awakened Sango from sleep, forcing her to lift one arm from under the warmth of her bedclothes to reach out and slammed down to quiet its emission of shrill, ear piercing noise.

Her arm retreated back under the sanctuary of blankets and Sango laid there, eyes closed, enjoying the last bit of peace she would have for probably most of the entire day.The nagging sensation of classes in an hour, however, soon forced her out of bed. 

Splashing cold water on her face in the bathroom, Sango soon was awake enough to remember the cause of the uncomfortable sensation she felt in the pit of her stomach. 

That stupid rumor.

She had no idea how it had happened, but the original scene told by the group of girls who had witnessed her walking out of Miroku's hospital room had become twisted entirely out of proportion, enough so that she had gone pale when told of what was floating around the entire campus... Sango threw her towel violently back onto the rack. Did _Miroku have to be so damn popular?!_

Sango sighed frustrated. If possible, she hated gossip even more than hospitals.

First off, she'd already had already worked up a headache trying to convince Kagome and Ayame that there wasn't anything going on between herself and Miroku.

Then there were the whispers just out of her hearing range but the subject of which was painfully obvious, and glares from many girls sent her way as she walked throughout the campus. It had been annoying to the degree that she was distracted enough to give out the wrong change four times behind the register yesterday afternoon. Even though Sango didn't particularly care what others thought of her, the fact that she had been reduced to the level of those other simpering girls was enough to rile her irritation. Just a bit.

And her stupid conscience kept her from just ignoring Miroku for the rest of her life. It wasn't as if this was his fault. He didn't do anything. Except save her from getting hit by a car..

The oh so eloquent phrase of _Miroku is an idiot_ was constantly repeating in her head the entire time she walked to her first class. However, the fact that he wasn't there to participate _in_ class was more successful at silencing her mental chant than anything else.

But not for long.

As she went to find a place to sit, she found to her disgust that all of the girls, while sniffing disdainfully in disgust or jealously, she didn't know, made sure the empty seats around them were occupied by any means.

Sango felt the sudden urge to throw something at a wall...or at a person...oh wait, make that at a certain hospital patient's head.

_Miroku is an idiot, Miroku is an idiot..._

________________

Miroku sighed frustratedly, whilst glaring at the tray of food in front of him. Here he was, stuck in a hospital bed, unable to even stand for more than five minutes, and you can guess what he used those precious minutes for, but still able to give Sango the worst day of her life. 

Now she has an even better reason to hate me. Miroku thought glumly. The one, single, solitary time he had utterly horrible luck with a woman, and it had to be the one he might possible was serio-

"Akusou?"

Miroku's head snapped up to meet Sango's even gaze. When did she get here?

"Sango?" His voice held more than a little surprise.

She sat down unceremoniously into a chair and handed him her notebook. He stared at it for a few moments until she finally said "Kaede's lecture notes."

"Oh. right."

Relieved of the notebook, Sango crossed her arms and leaned back with a sigh. "Did you know asprin is my new best friend?"

"Morphine is mine."

She threw him a withering look. "I have you to thank for this."

"It was your choice to come here!" Miroku replied sharply, but almost immediately regreted saying it.

"Oh, so you just _had_ to lead those twittering girls on like that before?

"Well it's not my fault I happen to be attractive." Miroku said with an air of mock indignance. The argument was fast loosing gravity.

"So I should just let it die down?" Sango looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "That is what you're saying, right?"

"Well, not like theres much else you can do." Miroku shrugged. He was happy to note that there wasn't a sharp jab of pain as a result.

Sango stood up then. "Is it just me or is it stuffy in here?" 

"Go open the window then," Miroku replied absently, massaging his temples. Good thing he was leaving the hospital tomorrow. Three days in here was not exactly a good way to spend one's time.

________________

There was something familiar about this....what is this? This room...It feels like...just like... Sango suddenly found it hard to breathe, walked haltingly past the bed. Just a moment ago it had been a lighthearted argument with Miroku..

_"Go open the window then, dear-_

A wave of nausea hit her, Sango stumbled cross the final few steps to press her hands against the window ledge. 

_"Isn't he....beautiful..? Such a darling...baby..your _brother-

Her eyes were burning, and it was unbearable in that room, staring out at the same deserted field behind the hospital with the same raggety weeds strewn haparzedly .....the same scenery as-

_"Do you know, mommy loves roses. When-when you grow up, I hope you love them too. They smell like heaven..sometimes I imagined them falling from the skies like a gift...oh, don't cry, see, here. Take this. Now you watch over your brother....and I'll do my watching over you. Even if you can't see me. Just remember this promise. Forever and ever._

Room H106.

Good lord. This was the same hospital room her mother had.....had.....

Teetering dangerously Sango spun around and hastily ran to her grab her bag.

"Sango-what-"

She rubbed her eyes furiously with one hand, and swung her bag over her shoulder with the other. "I-I need to go. I'm late.. for a-an appointment-"

She was gone, the door swinging shut behind her, before Miroku could say another word.

_________________

Kagome was your typical girl. She was mostly happy and very energetic and a regular, if maybe somewhat higher than average, student. And she tended to like cute things, like small, furry kittens, and romantic things, like walks on the beach with some incredibly good looking and near perfect guy.

She surprised herself more than anyone else when she began to date Inuyasha in the second year of high school.

He was, in essence, the opposite of the regular boyfriend an average sixteen year old girl would have. Except for the good looks. He had that.

She remembered her friends tell her not to get involved with him. She ignored it. They said he had a complicated life and an even more complicated past. She ignored that too.

What she didn't ignore was the fact that he understood. He knew what it was like to loose a father.

And that was all that mattered. 

Not that melodramatic pity and sniffle sessions ever occured. The mutual knowledge that both of them had gone through similiar circumstances was better than any apologetic and slightly uncomfortable looks from friends. After all, there is always difference between awkward sympathy and true understanding.

And then, in a truly unexpected form, his confession shook the foundation of her world.

Two years is a long time.

Too long if you're trying to forgive.

And not long enough if you're trying to forget.

________________

She couldn't sleep. 

After tossing in bed for nearly two hours, Kagome gave up and got out of bed. For some stupid reason, the events from morning kept replaying in her head.

Kagome sighed and rested her head on her arms propped atop her desk. Stupid, stupid reason...

_"Ok, lets look over your notes again. Remember, always study the concepts, not just memorize the definitions. Your unit exam is tomorrow, so I'll test you one more time. Just as long as you've sorted out that problem with-"_

_"Ok, ok, just give me the damn paper."_

_"I'm trying to **help** you Inuyasha. This is out of my own kindness. I could be spending my time doing somthing important...like finishing up my thesis for inst-oh!"_

_"What?"_

_"I forgot, I need to return Hojo some of those notes I borrowed from him last time on our study date-"_

**_"What?!_**_"_

_"Don't give me that look Inuyasha, it wasn't a real date, I mean not unless you count a five hour highly detailed analysis of shakespeare's Hamlet to be romantic-"_

_"**Five hours with that hobo?!**"_

_"Oh will you give it a rest! It's not as if we- why am I trying to defend myself anyways? It is perfectly normal for me to spend time with Hojo, even date Hojo- HOJO, not hobo-just as much as i have a right to da-study with you!"_

_"So you only have a right to **study** with me?"_

_"That wasn't the point! And I-I never said **only** study!"_

_"Your face is red."_

_"Shut up Mr. Tactless."_

_"Just, quit hanging around hobo boy or whatever, and I won't hurt you for calling me that. Whatever tactless is."_

_"You are completely and utterly hopeless Inuyasha. I'll trust you know what **that** means. Now, take the paper- TAKE IT- and **I** won't hurt you for calling hobo- argh! I mean, **Hojo** hobo. Right, and I'll test you one more time-Inuyasha! Stop eating all of my cookies! You already cleaned out my supply of ramen!!-and then I've got to go check up on Sango. Make sure she got through the visit at the hospital."_

_"You left her there with Miroku?"_

_"Yes I did."_

_"..."_

_" ....why are you looking at me like that?! Stop it! I REFUSE TO FEEL GUILTY!!! And quit laughing!!"_

_".."_

_"-Oh just take the damn paper!"_

_"Now who's the one with crude language?"_

_"Shut up and read."_

Outside, the beginnings of dawn stretched its way across the morning sky. Inside the bedroom of the small apartment, Kagome had fallen asleep at her desk. There was the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.

  
  


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Comments of all flavors accepted =)


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

As viewed from what had been her mother's hospital room, there was an abandoned and empty lot surrounded by a mass of prickly, thorn filled bushes, twice as tall as the regular person. She had found a way into the weed-strewn plot of land the day her mother had died, miraculously - her eyes had been blurred by tears. And she had also been running. But fate had been kind to her that day, as it had not been any other it seemed, and she had noticed the opening in the hedge, walked through, and then marveled at what she beheld.

There were roses. Hundreds of them, thousands of petals swirling in the autumn wind, fall of her thirteenth year.

_They smell like heaven..sometimes I imagined them falling from the skies like a gift..._

It wouldn't have been entirely accurate to say that she had been _comforted_ by the roses. They were plastered by wind against the thorny support of an intricate tangle of branches, delicately withstanding the breeze curling itself relentlessly around the buds and slender flower hearts. Similar to how the impending grief winding its way around her own heart.

Deja vu, really. Sango managed a grim smile as she pushed past the prickly hedges, ignoring the stings of protest from various gnarled, ancient branches pressing through the material of her sweater, ignoring the last few moments of conversation with Miroku...

She came through the bushes, brushing away the last prickly embraces of wayward stems, expecting...

Well she didn't know what she was expecting originally...

but certainly not the dead, twisted branches that she was met with. A few had managed futile tries with green shoots, but even the climbers had been unable to withstand the battle with nearby weeds and wild grasses, years without care having finally brought down their hold on the wrought iron gate of their support. 

And there were no roses.

Even the lingering ghosts of flowered perfume had faded away.

Sango blinked for a few moments, almost not comprehending. Already the pent up emotions from years of regression after her mother's death were choking her....there was an almost tangible sense of the feelings to give up...

No.

They would not take this away from her as well. They had Kohaku, holding him, covering him with their richly encasing arms of the lasting generations of the Miazaki family's power. They would want her to break down and lose herself in this reopening of an old wound. 

But she would not.

Sango steeled herself against an invisible force, her poise returning, her face hardened. It would not do to loose the battle now, not when she had put so much of her time, her effort.... and she had sacrificed her lifelong dream to bring her brother back..

Turning swiftly, Sango walked through the wall of rose bushes, pushing her way through, ignoring the slashes of pain.

She did not notice that a stray thorn had cut her cheek until her lips were met with the taste of blood.

Sunlight shined fiercely bright and blinding as Sango walked out of the abandoned lot and past the hospital, onto the sidewalk. It shone with a relentless purpose to drive away darkness, but did nothing to alleviate the bitterly cold wind.

_________________________ 

Well. That was strange. 

Miroku blinked, frowned at the closed door of the room. The dull buzzing sound he acquainted with hospital machinery ceased to annoy him for a few moments as he contemplated what had happened.

From what he had noticed, it seemed to be a state of regression more than anything else, considering how Sango had a rather obvious look of dawning realization on her face. 

After all, such acts of burying the past did often come back to haunt you.

He was readily able to recognize such signs.. well it wasn't important why. He was more interested in figuring out the reasons behind that facade Sango was inclined to put up whenever she was around him.

Miroku wondered what she had gone through. Yes, he was rather curious... after all, something about her..

She seemed to be holding in quite a bit.

And of course, he was worried. The look on her face...

Deja vu, much?

"Oi, Bouzu."

When did he get here? Well, Miroku had more important things on his mind.

"Wonderful to see you, Inuyasha." He said distractedly.

"No need to sound so enthusiastic," Was the cryptic reply.

"Mmm? Oh, sorry."

"What's with you?"

"Nothing, nothing." Miroku waved it away dismissively before turning Inuyasha's question back onto him, "Whats with you?"

"Don't bother saying nothing," He added, and Inuyasha huffed. 

"I wasn't going to."

Miroku grinned. "Kagome is it?"

Inuyasha positively gaped.

Right in one.. Miroku thought with satisfaction.

His mood lifted considerably.

______________________

She had spent the whole of the previous evening studying, and with refreshed zeal, poured over files and such from the previous case that hadn't even made it to actual trial. 

Overruled, since she didn't have enough claim...

Of course the Miazaki family would have influenced the court's decision. Just a little.

Sango had barely slept, and going off to the University campus first in the morning just really wasn't her cup of tea. Coffee would be good actually...

Sighing, she willed herself to stay awake.

Classroom politics came into play, almost as soon as she stepped in, five minutes before Kaede would start off another lecture.

What fun.

But surprisingly...

Sango scanned the room, immensely gratified that there were only a few obvious signs of reproach as far as she could see. Well, at least Miroku was right about the whole thing smoothing over. 

No problem...

"Miroku-kun!" came the screech from her left...

"Where have you been?!" and her right....

Sango grimaced.

Headache, anyone?

_________________________ 

"...Comprehensive analysis of how gender relations affect power holdings inside the family, based on "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams. It will be due in two weeks and will be a duet essay, complied of two-"

Duet? As in partners?

Miroku's diminishing interest in Kaede's lecture perked up again. If he could partner up with Sango, possibly he could get wheedle some information out of her... no, no not out of her past...

_"Damn. I dunno what to do about her!"_

_"Waving your arms around isn't going to help you..."_

_"Thanks for the observation. Now use those years of girlfriend experience to help me."_

_"Girlfriend experience? Your eloquence never ceases to amaze me, Inuyasha."_

_"Get on with it already!"_

_"Like I said...waving your arms isn't- ok, ok! No need to throw things at me! So. You want to, re-establish your relationship with her is that it?"_

_"Dunno. She just confuses me. Keep getting mixed signals. First she said all that 'be friends' crap. Then just yesterday her friends gang up on me saying that if I'm not good to her they'll castrate me, I mean what the fuck?!"_

_"She's got bodyguard friends. Go figure...Anyways, from what I can understand, you should respect her wishes. Pursuing something else may simply just ruin what friendship you have already. Perhaps later on you could consider.... well just tread carefully where this is concerned."_

_"If you say so."_

_"Really...tread carefully...you know, be cautious about what you say and do around her...and for your sake, as well as mine, don't _jump_ her!"_

_"The **hell**?! You're the perverted one!"_

_"Well there was that time when you-"_

_"Shut up!!"_

"...Partnered according to last name. First person with last, second with second to last, and so on..." 

Kaede went down her list of students. 

As if on cue, disappointed and bitter groans were heard as his name was called...followed by Sango's.

Of course, who else would Miroku be paired up with besides the one girl who _wasn't_ mentally calculating the order of names to see if they would end up with him?

Typical irony and all that. 

  
  


* * *

Wrote this in a sudden burst of inspiration..then took a while longer to fix a few mechanical errors, edit html, reword a few things , etc etc...

Well, I felt like setting off this event from everything else. *points away* Muse insisted. Don't look at me..

Next chapter should be considerably longer in length. ^_^

  
  



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